Milk and other dairy products: Dairy Council of California Law: producer-handlers.

(1) The Dairy Council of California Law (dairy law) , establishes the Dairy Council of California within the state government and prescribes the membership of the council to be appointed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture as including 12 members that are producers and 12 members that are handlers or producer-handlers, as defined. The dairy law also sets forth various requirements applicable to producers, handlers, and producer-handlers, including the payment of certain assessments on milk and participating in certain referendum procedures. This bill would remove producer-handlers from operation of the provisions of the dairy law by revising the provisions of the dairy law to delete the definition of, and all references to, producer-handlers. (2) Existing law makes the payment by a handler of less than the minimum producer price established under the applicable stabilization and marketing plan an unlawful trade practice. This bill would delete this provision. (3) Existing law requires the secretary to collect, as prescribed, from each producer $0.0033 per hundredweight of all eligible milk to defray the reasonable costs of administering the law relating to milk, as specified. This bill would instead require the secretary to collect $0.0033 per hundredweight of all milk. (4) Existing law establishes labeling and quality standards for milk and milk products, makes it a crime to violate those provisions, and authorizes the secretary to enforce those provisions. This bill would authorize the secretary to adopt, by regulation, official final action methods of testing for the determination of the components of milk and products of milk for purposes of compliance with these laws. The bill would provide that the secretary's authority to enforce federal milk labeling requirements shall not be construed to supersede or negate certain state-imposed standards of identity or compositional requirements for milk fat, milk solids-not-fat, or total milk solids for milk products. By authorizing the secretary to adopt regulations establishing official final action methods of testing for milk quality, the violation of which would be a crime, this bill would create new crimes or expand the definition of existing crimes and thereby impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law makes it an unlawful practice for a retailer, wholesale customer, manufacturer, or distributor, as defined, to sell milk, cream, or any dairy product at less than cost. This bill would revise the definition of "total consideration paid or exchanged for raw product" in the case of market milk or market cream for purposes of application of this prohibition. (6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.